


Guarded

by Lafeae



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Age Difference, Crossdressing, Domestic Fluff, Drabbles, Fluff, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-07-12 17:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19950178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lafeae/pseuds/Lafeae
Summary: A series of drabbles centred around Guardshipping (Seto/Isono) either canon or AU.Drabble #1: Givenchy: Isono helps Kaiba get ready for a gala of some sort.Drabble #2: Gap: Seto ponders the limits of an age gap





	1. Givenchy

**Author's Note:**

> This is def intended as a hodgepodge of random Guardshipping ideas I’ve had. It’ll be a bunch of random things, but I hope someone enjoys this rarepair. 
> 
> This one in particular is actually a swap between me marshmallons. So she should have a sister Drabble somewhat like this first one. Enjoy!

In 1926, Coco Chanel published a picture of a calf-length dress. Pure black, with a few diagonal lines. Simple, elegant and, most importantly, a classic. The ‘little black dress’ was a staple of a tasteful woman’s wardrobe.

Kaiba found himself a little less interested in Coco’s take. Chanel never quite did him justice, though he had tried on the clothes a number of times. He wasn’t particularly a fan of loud-stated brands, either. None beyond his own, of course. The interlocked C’s of the iconic brand were a bit too gauche for him to enjoy. At least as far as tasteful went. Going for something a bit more subdued, but nonetheless fashionable, for the little black dress had been his goal. And he met it, a hundred times over.

In the far corner of his walk-in closet, behind the colour-coded suits and shirts, the rotating rack of rainbow ties, and the floor to ceiling panel of slick dress shoes, was a place for the dresses. They are organised by length, and while he was confident in the calf-length dress in the front, he wasn’t feeling stockings for the evening.

From the back, an ankle length black dress with just a bit of ruffle near the bustle and sheer sleeves was selected. Givenchy always did him nicely.

Tonight was not about making a statement. It was simply a black-tie only party, and he didn’t ever feel comfortable in black ties. Black dresses suited his pallor better. Isono had agreed with him on more than one occasion, but now was the first time he planned on wearing the dress in public. Special-made and one-of-a-kind, it had been hiding in the closet too long. It needed air.

“It’s almost time, sir,” Isono said, knocking twice. 

“I know. I’m almost ready.”

Isono entered. He watched, intent, as Kaiba pulled the dress over his hips and eased his arms into it. It settled nicely. It was made to fit his near curveless figure, accentuating what he had without the need for additions. Feeling it brush his ankles was quite nice, too. However, he aimlessly gripped for the zipper midway up his back.

Wordless, Isono stepped over and finished up, tucking the zipper into ruffled collar.

Kaiba smoothed the creased out along his stomach and pulled the sleeves down. He turned a few times in the body-length mirror, watching the hem flick around him.

Isono smiled, delighted but subdued. “Very nice, Seto-sama.”

“You suppose this is enough?”

“If you think it is.”

Kaiba’s nails were polished with a clear coating, but didn’t require colour. It took too much time to dry or to take off. The barest hint of make-up, touched around his eyes to hide the dark circles and highlight his cheeks. He laughed though, thinking it was unnecessary at a black-tie affair. The black eyes matched, after all.

“Do you actually like it?” Kaiba asked, critical, eyeing Isono through the mirror.

A pause. He lifted his sunglasses atop his head to get a better look. “It is, perhaps, missing something.” Isono went and grabbed Kaiba’s locket from the vanity and put it on. “There, the keystone was missing. Now the ensemble is all together.”

Kaiba sighed, thoughtful, his fingers playing with the edges of the locket. Though Isono said nothing else, a twinkle entered his eyes as he smiled wide. It wasn’t that Kaiba needed anyone else’s validation. Just as this wasn’t about making a statement. He was comfortable in the dress, in how it fit, and how it looked when he stepped into a pair of heels to give it just a little more class as it hung loosely from his hips. 

But knowing that Isono looked at him in the same way as when he fiddled with a tie and suit combination, suggesting different colours or cuff-links, gave him a sense of peace. Very few people’s opinions mattered; Isono’s didn’t matter, either. It was essential.

“Are you ready, Seto-sama?” Isono asked, and he smoothed out the dress’s shoulders. His hands laid there, hot. If Kaiba concentrated, he could feel the heartbeat in his fingertips.

Resting his hand atop Isono’s Kaiba nodded. “Let’s go. It’s going to be a long night,” Kaiba said, and headed out of the bedroom.

“Mm. I’ll set late reservations at Jiro’s for you then.”

“Make it for two.”

“Oh?” Isono paused at the top of the stairs. Kaiba took notice, stopping two stairs down. The old guard quickly joined him, and Kaiba looped arms. “Ah. I see.”

“You’ve always wanted to try it, haven’t you?”

“I would be lying if I said no. But I never speculate on those things,” Isono replied.

Kaiba grinned, tight-lipped. “Well, speculate tonight. It’s going to be several hours before you get to try it. You can be tempted by then.”

Though Kaiba didn’t look directly at him, he could feel the heat radiating off of Isono’s cheeks. The old guard had bowed his head and merely nodded, muttering ‘of course, sir’ as if there was something else to it. But there wasn’t. And there shouldn’t have been.

As Isono helped Kaiba into the car, Kaiba stopped and planted a short kiss on Isono’s cheek.

The old guard said nothing, and Kaiba felt eyes on him as he adjusted the dress. Givenchy certainly did him good, that was for sure. And Isono agreed.


	2. Gap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Seto asks Isono leading questions about age gaps in relationships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno if I know what Drabble means but hey, this is a thing.

“What do you suppose is the limit of an age gap?”

Seto asked question to Isono as soon as entered the executive office. He pondered the question for as long as it took him to hand over a coffee cup.

“In what terms?” Isono asked. He knew Seto’s mindless interrogations were harmless; little psychological tests or ponderings that he didn’t need answers to, and yet, Isono usually answered.

Seto stared into the coffee. “Any.”

“Oh, I don’t know really.”

“You do, though.”

“I do?”

“You have a limit in your mind, but probably don’t know it until you see it,” Seto said.

Isono sat across from Seto but looked beyond him to the wide and sparkling city, teeming with all sorts of people. It was deep into the night. His watch last read half past two. Any regular person was asleep—them and their significant other, however old. Seto’s questions drew him to an unknown bedroom; a television flickered, and two people, of indeterminate age, laid in bed spooning while a cat sprawled on the edge of the bed.

“I can’t say I’ve considered it deeply,” Isono answered. “There’s a lot of different situations people find themselves in or...feelings that develop that aren’t exactly romantic but are still loving.”

“Mm.”

“Finding love is hard enough. Limiting it is always a tricky thing to discuss.”

“You can be honest with me,” Seto said.

“I know.”

“But you’re not being honest now.”

Isono rested back in his seat and canted his head. “You’re not asking the question you want me to answer, Seto-sama. You’re being curious before you lead me to what you really want to say.” Seto didn’t reply, only blew on the coffee before and dipped his tongue in before sipping. Like testing the water of a bath. “Which is fine. I’ll happily follow—but I know what you’re doing.”

“Then humour me for a little bit.”

“Of course.”

“Take my age.” Nineteen. “How do you feel about 25?”

“Normal.”

“30?”

“Still fairly normal in this age.”

“How about 35 or 40?”

Isono paused. He knew it was his death to pause, so he looked to the hanging ceiling like it was interesting. He went back to the imaginary bedroom, with its imaginary couple and it’s imaginary cat. “35 is alright. 40 seems...well, I’d wonder what the 40-year old wanted.”

“Love.”

“Is it really love?” Isono asked.

Seto shrugged absently. “Why is it only what the 40-year old is after?”

“Because I doubt someone your age is looking to gain anything other than a missing parental figure, or maybe maturity. There can’t be much they actually want to talk about with the 40-year old, and the 40-year old probably isn’t looking for more than a good sex partner and a trophy of sorts.”

“So is 40 your limit?”

“40’s not _my_ limit, no.”

Seto flinched and corrected: “21 years apart, I mean.”

And Isono almost said ‘yes’, but the initial question, with its subsequent imaginary bedroom, built itself into a lived in space, with curtain-covered floor-to-ceiling windows, clothes haphazardly strewn across a wood floor, and the nightstands edge-to-edge full of books and magazines and pictures and a little-card shaped locket, gave him a momentary set-back. Seto laid in that bed, kicking the cat off the edge. He turned over, nuzzling against an older lover with grey hair at his temples. And it was ‘his’, not ‘their’, because Isono held tight to Seto’s private affairs.

“I couldn’t say, sir.”

“You could.”

Isono sighed.

Seto pulled the chair closer. “You just don’t want to.”

“Guilty as charged,” Isono said, chuckling.

The way Seto regarded him was knowingly simple. His back was bent and shoulders hunched, giving the illusion that he was looking up to Isono the way a child would look up to an adult. He leaned into his hand and scratched behind his ear. His fingers danced against the ceramic mug, making a hollow and erratic tune. “What about...twenty-three years apart?”

“Hm?”

“As a gap. Twenty-three.”

Isono sucked on his cheek. “Oddly specific, sir.”

“It’s just a question.”

“I know.” Isono folded his hands on his stomach. “I know.”

“Do you?”

“In so many words, yes. I think I can pick up your inferences, Seto-sama,” said Isono. He almost wondered if Seto was being intentionally obtuse. He wasn’t the sort of person that beat around the bush when asking questions, even if he openly cogitated on anything and everything with the faithful guard so there wasn’t silence. Isono wasn’t ignorant to his neediness. “I’m not opposed to anything; however—,”

“‘But’ lets me down easier,” Seto interrupted.

“‘However’ is more professional,” Isono replied. “And in a professional setting, I’d very much like to keep the distance between you and me with a ‘however’. Because the gap itself is inconsequential. Certain situations lend themselves to certain feelings, romantic or otherwise.”

“Are we otherwise?”

“I couldn’t say,” Isono replied. But he could, because the last details emerged. His arms dropped over Seto’s lanky figure, pressing him in close. The cat jumped back up on the bed. It laid between them and watched as Isono planted a kiss on Seto’s forehead. Seto never stirred. “But perhaps, in time, I’ll find a better answer.”

Seto rolled his eyes. “The gap doesn’t change.”

“I know.”

“So your answer won’t change.”

Isono wasn’t sure. He didn’t answer, only continued to smile at Seto for a long while, until he stood. “More coffee, sir?”

Seto waved his hand. Not a yes or a no, but his petulance was just part of his character. Something that, with age, would fade he assumed. His emotionally maturity hadn’t fully materialised, but it would eventually. And while he couldn’t change Seto’s calculating perspective on matters of sex or love—it was why he asked Isono the questions he did—one day, he would learn how to take ‘no’ as a full answer. And then the ‘no’ could become ‘yes’, and the image of the bedroom wouldn’t be so imaginary.


End file.
